Kingsley all about the team for Sailors

The summer is an important formative time for the Newport Harbor High girls’ tennis team.

The Sailors conduct two-a-day practices. Conditioning, including spin and beach workouts, is in the morning, with tennis practice in the afternoon. The summer culminates in the annual team bonding trip to Big Bear.

On Tuesdays, team members also met with a local sports psychologist, Dr. Casey Cooper, for 90 minutes with Coach Kristen Case not present.

“We’d meet in a group,” Newport senior Jenn Kingsley said. “She’d just ask us basic questions, like what we wanted for our team as a goal and what we wanted to stand for. What’s standing in the way? She helped us break down any barriers we had, and helped make us the team we are today. She honestly is such a big part of that.”

One thing that Kingsley had to get over coming into the season was just becoming a senior. On a spirited team like Newport Harbor, that carries a lot of perceived responsibility.

It’s an impressive senior class, with five starters and six total players in Kingsley and doubles players Kendall Cosenza, Anna Burke, Olivia Zehnder, Elle Zielinski and Bailey Kruse.

But, for once, Case didn’t name team captains.

“Every one of our seniors is very unique, and they bring a different form of leadership,” Case said. “I think that’s really special. Each of them brings their unique quality to guide this team.”

Kingsley is an obvious asset. The Daily Pilot Athlete of the Week, she’s a three-year varsity starter in her second year at No. 1 singles. She was named singles MVP at the Lightning Invitational tournament last weekend, helping the Sailors win the tournament for the fourth time in five years. She was undefeated in singles, as well as in doubles with partners Hannah Blower and Kruse.

Yet, it was the fact that Newport Harbor earned the title again that meant the most to Kingsley. She’s all about the team.

“I would say the way that Jenn leads is outstanding, in terms of how much she cares about her team and how much she cares about the team’s success,” Case said. “I believe that’s what’s driven her so hard personally the last year and a half, because she’s been very self-motivated and put a lot of time and effort into her tennis. I think what’s really special about her is that it’s been the team goals that have been driving that. I think that’s hard to come by nowadays in our sport.”

Kingsley has definitely worked hard for the Sailors (4-1), who followed up the tournament title with impressive victories against San Clemente and Tesoro earlier this week before losing to Corona del Mar, 13-5, on Thursday in a competitive Battle of the Bay match.

Kingsley was 13-3 in singles this season, before being swept by CdM’s Danielle Willson (6-2), Siena Sharf (6-4) and Jasie Dunk (7-6). Yet, don’t lose the fact that Kingsley made one of the toughest singles lineups in Southern California really battle.

“Those type of matches are the ones you look back on, even if you don’t win them,” said Kingsley, who did upset Willson last year when the Back Bay rivals met in the postseason. “I always like to have tight matches; that’s kind of my thing. I just always say, ‘If I can’t beat this person, I’m going to try to have as close of a match as I can with them.’ I think I’ve been pretty successful with that throughout my high school career. As our coach says, playing the ball and not the player is really important, and not undermining yourself. A lot the time what it really comes down to is who’s more mentally strong, and I think that everyone on this team is mentally fit.”

The team dynamic works very well for Kingsley, who likes the independence that playing singles provides but also enjoys competing for her teammates. At a shade under 5-foot-5, she has never been physically imposing, but she has worked hard to improve her game. She knew early on that she wanted to play tennis at Newport Harbor, from when she used to come to the matches as a kid at Mariners Elementary.

Back then, Kingsley would get easily frustrated, lashing out or breaking her racket. A former coach used to call her a menace.

But beside a fiery temper, she always would work hard. After playing at No. 1 singles on junior varsity as a freshman, that meant Kingsley played seven days a week to earn a varsity spot as a sophomore. She got it, playing at No. 3 singles that season for the Sailors, with then-senior Kate Knight serving as an example as the top singles player.

“Kate was a role model of mine, definitely,” Kingsley said. “She showed me the ropes and taught me a lot of things about singles and playing smart. I used to be kind of a backboard. I wasn’t a pusher — I always hit with pace — but I would just hit it back to the person. She kind of taught me angles and how to put the ball places.”

After Knight graduated, Kingsley played at No. 1 singles last year for the Sailors. She was 22-9 in Sunset League play, helping Newport Harbor finished tied for second and advance to the second round of the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs.

She continued to push herself, attending Newport boys’ practice three times a week in the offseason to see a different type of ball.

This year, one of Kingsley’s roles for the Sailors is being a good example to the rest of the singles lineup, which includes juniors Blower, Lily Walkow and Misha Pokusa.

In tennis, “love” means nothing, but that’s clearly not the case for Kingsley.

“It’s been a privilege watching her grow up,” Case said. “She’s very responsible and is a great role model for all of the younger players in our program. I’m just really impressed with her servant leadership. She’s about helping others around her be great and giving back to them, which in turn, benefits her.”

Kingsley is unsure if she’ll play tennis competitively in college, but she definitely doesn’t plan to abandon the sport completely. She said she would get separation anxiety if she did that.

She sometimes still thinks back to those days as a young child at Mariners, when she would come to the matches during some of Case’s first years as head coach at her alma mater.

“I just loved the sprit they had,” Kingsley said. “That’s a moment that sticks out in my mind when I think of Newport Harbor tennis. Sometimes when our team’s going through a rough patch or anything like that, I’ll think back to that. I’ll think, ‘What would that team have done? What would those girls think of this team, and what would they want the new captains to do?’

“I just think back on all of the legacies. We have so many.”

Kingsley’s not quite done creating hers.

—

Jenn Kingsley

Born: Aug. 25, 1997

Hometown: Newport Beach

Height: 5-foot-4 1/2

Sport: Tennis

Year: Senior

Coach: Kristen Case

Favorite food: Ruby’s sandwiches

Favorite movie: “Letters to Juliet”

Favorite athletic moment: Playing host to rival CdM in the second round of the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs last year.

Week in review: Kingsley was undefeated in both singles and doubles, earning singles MVP honors as Newport Harbor won the Lightning Invitational tournament Sept. 12 at The Tennis Club.